Sulphur vat wall form



Dec. 20, 1960 Y L. D. GILMORE 2,964,790

SULPHUR VAT WALL FORM Filed may 28, 1957 INVENTOR. 45 Q 674M085 BY @m United States Patent SULPHUR VAT WALL Lyle D. Gilmore, Worland, Wyo., assignor to Texas Gulf Sulphur Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Texas Filed May 28, 1957, Ser. No. 662,179

Claims. (Cl. 18--39).

known Frasch process, hot water is forced below ground into the sulphur deposit to melt the sulphur, and then compressed air is used to force the molten 'sulphur to the surface where it is poured into huge storage vats for cooling and solidification. The vats are essentially large bins, in some cases made with sheet metal sides, or the sulphur itself is used to make the vat wall by initially pouring molten sulphur into forms placed around the periphery of the vat and on cooling the sulphur hardens to form a wall around the edge of the vat which confines the other sulphur subsequently pumped into the vat. Usually the practice has been to form the sulphur vat by building the confining .wall,i whether of sulphur itself.

as described above, or other material, step-wise, i.e. building the confining wall to an initial height considerably structing the next higher level.

Although the above described methods-used heretofore have been generally satisfactory, certain inherent faults have been encountered. When using the sulphurwall technique, portions of the wall sometimes break away from the main body of the vat and .create falling hazards.

Furthermore, the sulphur of the thin: wall ..c'oo.s more rapidly than that in the main body of the vat and it is. generally hard and rather difficult to crush when it is desired to break down the sulphur vat into smaller pieces for use or shipping. With the other vat wall types, no means of construction was available which afforded the desired simplicity and efficiency. i

It is an object of this inventionto provide a sideboard or wall panel member for use in constructing a sulphur vat form which utilizesthe hardened sulphur itself'to provide anchoring means for raising the wall to ahigher level for the reception of the next successivelayer of sulphurinthevat. 9 i,;'..

Another object of the inventionis to ,provide s uch a sideboard which does not require any-separate connecting means or fittings in fabricating the vat wall.

Another object is to provide a sideboard which does not require the use oftools in either constructing or dismantling the vat wall.

Briefly, this invention involves a vat form for the stepwise casting of molten sulphur consisting of a plurality of sideboard elements each adapted for mating with adjacent elements at its ends and having a vertical dimension less than the desired element sulphur vat level. Each of such elements is comprised of a wall member having at least one pair of vertically spaced laterally projecting pins disposed in a parallel relationship to one another on one side of the wall member. Each of the pins is preferably tapered toward its free end and is affixed to the wall member on its other end at a downward acute y, 2,964,?90 Patented Dec. 20, 1960 angle of, for example, sixty degrees. This structural configuration thus provides a form which can be successfully stepped up by the insertion of the bottom pins into the holes made into the cast sulphur by the top pins, and by virtue of the downwardly depending pins, the sideboard is held substantially rigidly in place to provide a confining wall for the introduction of additional molten sulphur into the vat.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent in reading the following description and claims, and in the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is an isometric view of three sideboard members in relative position for formation of a vat wall portion;

Fig. 2 is a profile view of one sideboard member;

Fig. 3 is a partially sectioned profile view of a sideboard member in place against a sulphur vat; and

Fig. 4 is a partially sectioned profile view of a sideboard member shown raised to contain the nexthigher successive layer of sulphur.

Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 shows one structural embodiment of the invention. Each vat form seetion, or sideboard 10 consists of a wall member 11 and has a pair of vertical handle members 12 afiixed to the outer side 13 thereof at spaced positions from one another. On the other side 14 of wall member 11 are two pairs of laterally projecting pins 15. The pins of each pair are vertically spaced from one another and are parallel to one another. They are preferably tapered toward their respective free ends 16 and are also preferablyaffixed to the wall member at a downward acute angle, e.g. degrees. Each pair is spaced from the other as shown, thus each wall member 11 has two upper pins 17 adjacent the top edge 18 thereof, and two bottom pins 19 adjacent the bottom edge 20; For best results it is' preferred that the free ends 16 of the two bottom pins 19 lie above a horizontal plane through the bottom edge20 of the wall member 11 sothat the sideboard 10 will stand upright, using the bottom pins 19 as supporting members as shown in Fig. 2.

The entire assembly can be made of any suitable material, but in its preferred form it has been found that aluminum gives a good combination of lightness and strength. The handles 12 as well as the pins 15 can likewise be constructed of aluminum and aflixed to the wall member 11 by welding or other suitable means. Any convenient type of handle means can be employed, or even dispensed with. The pins 15 may be entirely cylindrical, without taper, and may be affixed to the wall member 11 at right angles rather than at an acute angle, however, the form described above has been found to be highly desirable and'superior in many respects. Furthermore, depending on the dimensions of the sideboard 10 and possibly other factors it may be desirable] to use only one pair of pins, or several pairs, the choice being governed by the particular situation.

' are maintained in an upright position on the vat floor 24 by their respective bottom pins 19. After a vat form of the desired shape and dimension is thereby constructed, molten sulphur 25 is poured into the confined space to a level at or near the top edge 18 of the sideboard elements 10, as shown in Fig. 3. After the sulphur 25 has cooled and hardened the sideboard elements are pulled away from the cake leaving tapered channels 26 conforming to the precise dimensions of the pins 15. The sideboards 10 can then be raised and positioned against the solidified cake so that the bottom pins 19 fit into the channels 26 previously occupied by their respective top pins 17, thus forminga raised vat form around the periphery of the cake and affording additional space for the reception of more molten sulphur seeFig. 4). In this fashion any number of successive layerscan be formed in this step-wise fashion. v

Thus it can be seen that the present invention provides a simple and efficient means for constructing a sulphur vat form without the need for separateconnecting means or the use of tools or other equipment. The objections to the prior w all structures havebeen eliminated and the cost' savings elfected by the present invention should be advantageous.

While one embodiment of this invention has been shown and described, it is to be understood that certain changes can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention.

I claim:

1. A sideboard for a sulphur vat form comprising a unitary combination of molding wall, recessed form pin and anchor pin comprising a wall member oriented in a vertical plane having a pair of substantially identical vertically spaced and aligned laterally projecting pins fiexed on the inner face thereof in a parallel relationship to one another, said pins tapered toward their free ends and downwardly oriented with respect to said side, the upper pin of said pair comprising a form pin adapted to project'into sulphur poured in and confined by said form to create in said sulphur when it hardens a socket adapted to receive said bottom pin of said pair which comprises an anchor pin adapted to support said form above the surface of a layer of solidified sulphur which had been poured and set in said form to provide a mold for another layer of sulphur to be cast on the solidified layer.

2. A sideboard for a sulhpur vat form comprising a unitary combination of molding wall, recessed form pin and anchor pin comprising a wall member oriented in a vertical plane having a pair of substantially identical vertically spaced and aligned laterally projecting pins fixed thereto and disposed in a parallel relationship to one another adjacent the respective top and bottom edges of said member on the inner face thereof, said pins tapered toward their free ends and downwardly oriented at an angle of about sixty degree to said side, the upper pin of said pair comprising a form pin adapted to project into sulphur poured in and confined by said form to create in said sulphur when it hardens a socket adatped to receive said bottom pin of said pair which comprises an anchor pin adapted to support said form above the surface of a layer of solidified sulphur which had been poured and set in said form to provide a mold for another layer of sulphur to be cast on the solidified layer. H i

3. A sideboard for a sulphur vat form comprising a unitary combination of molding wall, recessed form pin and achor pin comprising a wall member oriented in a vertical plane having a pair of substantially identical vertically spaced and aligned laterally projecting pins fixed thereto and disposed in a parallel relationship to one another adjacent the respective top and bottom edges of said member on the inner face thereof, said pins tapered toward their free ends and downwardly oriented at an angle of about sixty degree to said side, the free end of the lower pin lying above the horizontal plane of the bottom edge of said member, the upper pin of said pair comprising a form pin adapted to project into sulphur poured in and confined by said form to create in said sulphur when it hardens a socket adapted to receive said bottom pin of said pair which comprises an anchor pin adapted to support said form above the surface of a layer of solidified sulphur which had been poured and set in said forrn to providqa mold for another layer of sulphur to be cast on the solidified layer.

4, A vat form for the stepwise casting of molten sulfur consisting'of a plur ality of sideboard elements oriented in a vertical plane each consisting of a unitary combination ofmolding wall recessed form pin and anchor pin and adapted for mating with adjacent elements at its ends and being comprised of a wallmember having a pair of substantially identical vertically spaced laterally projecting pins fixed thereto and disposed in a parallel and vertically aligned relationship to one another adjacent the respectivetop and bottom edges of said member on the inner face thereof, said pins tapered toward their free ends and downwardly oriented at an angle of about sixty degreess to said side.

5. A vat form for the step-wise casting of molten sulphur consisting of a plurality of sideboard elements oriented in a vertical plane each consisting of a 'unitary combination of molding wall recessed ,form pin and anchor pin'and adapted for mating with adjacent elements at its ends and having'a vertical dimension less than the desiredultimate sulphur vat level, each of said elements is comprised of a wall member having a pair of vertically spaced laterally projecting pins fixed thereto and disposed in a parallel relationship to one another adjacent the respective top and bottom edges of said member on one side thereof, said pins tapered toward their free ends and downwardly oriented at an angle of about sixty degrees to said side whereby said form during use can be successively stepped up by the insertion of the bottom pins into the holes made in the cast sulphur by the respective top pins of the pairs to provide additional casting height for the vat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

